Wolf to Erie educators: Charter school law 'outdated'

Thursday

The Erie School District has the highest charter school costs in Erie County, but it is far from the only local public school system that is concerned about charters.

The support throughout the county for charter reform was apparent on Thursday, when Gov. Tom Wolf advocated for changes to the 1997 state charter law in a speech at Grandview Elementary School in Millcreek Township.

Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito followed Wolf as a speaker, but so did Millcreek schools Superintendent William Hall and Brenda Sandberg, a member of the Wattsburg School Board and the executive director of the Erie Western-Pennsylvania Port Authority.

And among the other officials who attended was Richard Scaletta, the superintendent of the General McLane School District.

For the Erie School District, a major concern is funding and accountability for the four brick-and-mortar charters that enroll students from within the district, plus cyber charter schools. For the other Erie County school districts, cyber charters are the main focus.

Because of cyber charter costs, the General McLane School District "will be close to insolvency in 2023 if we don't raise any taxes. We will be where Erie is," Scaletta said, referring to the woes of the Erie School District, which is receiving an additional $14 million in annual state aid to stay solvent.

Wolf said he understands the worries of the school districts and believes his package of reforms, unveiled on Aug. 13, will help fix the problems. He said the 1997 law "is outdated and in many ways it is unfair" and that school districts, which fund charter schools with tax revenue, must have more authority to regulate underperforming charters.

"It is time we start holding all charter schools accountable to the same standards we hold public schools to," Wolf said.

One of his proposals would allow a chartering school district to cap the number of students who attend an underperforming cyber charter school. The 1997 law prohibits an enrollment cap without the approval of the charter school.

"There are a lot of things that we are trying to do for accountability and for quality and a cap strikes me as a fairly simple first move," Wolf said in an interview.

A charter school that is underperforming "should not be focused on expansion," said Polito, who has negotiated two financially-driven caps with charter schools. "It should be trying to improve the results for students already there."

Much of the discussion on Thursday centered on an issue that has dominated the Erie School District's effort to deny a renewal of the charter for Erie Rise Leadership Academy Charter School, which remains in operation.

As Polito has done with Erie Rise, the school officials on Thursday questioned why school districts must fund charter schools whose students' standardized test scores are lower than those of district schools.

Hall, the Millcreek Township School District superintendent, also questioned whether cyber charters are providing a better education than traditional schools, where students interact with one another in person. Hall proposed putting the state in charge of five regional charter schools to strengthen oversight.

"It is a free and public education," Hall said of cyber charters. "But is it appropriate? The system is broken."

Charter school supporters argue that a sweeping change of the system is unnecessary. The Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools responded to Wolf's Aug. 13 announcement of the reform proposals by stating that its supports accountability, but that the state also needs to scrutinize the effectiveness of traditional public school systems.

Wolf failed to get input from "stakeholders from the charter school community" in developing the reforms, Ana Meyers, the coalition's executive director, said in a statement issued Aug. 13. She also said Wolf is proposing "stripping" charter school families of "their right to choose."

Homer Smith, who handles public relations for Erie Rise, shares a similar view. Smith attended Thursday's news conference and said afterward that he agrees that the 1997 law needs some reform. But he said Wolf and lawmakers need to realize that charter schools students leave traditional public schools because they want options. Smith said those options must continue to be available so all students "can get the best education possible."

For Wolf, a Democrat, getting bipartisan support in Harrisburg is the only way his reforms will pass. He found an ally, to a degree, from the opposing political party on Thursday.

As Wolf spoke, standing behind him, in a long line of other public officials, was state Sen. Dan Laughlin, of Millcreek Township, R-49th Dist.

Laughlin said he disagrees with Wolf's strategy of using executive orders to try to implement some of his proposals. At the same time, Laughlin said he supports the reforms in general, and he said he believes others in the GOP-controlled General Assembly support the reforms as well.

"We know there needs to be reform," Laughlin said. He said the current formula for funding charter schools can work in a way that takes "tax dollars out of public schools and weakens them. It shouldn't be like that."

Wolf, with all the Erie County school officials around him, said he understands the concerns about the executive orders, but that he had to start somewhere with charter reform.

"I'm trying to push the conversation forward," he said.

Ed Palattella can be reached at 870-18134. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ETNpalattella.

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